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Lance Armstrong

Beyond Blood: Armstrong's Tour de France Feats

Becoming a champion of Armstrong’s magnitude takes something more profound than mere illicit substances—especially in an era saturated by high-powered dopers. These three moments, which had little (or nothing) to do with doping, are not mitigation, but a reminder amid a complex issue of Armstrong’s tactical savvy, skill, and other elusive qualities only the greatest of champions possess.

The Bluff
In 2001, unsure his team could control the pack through a massive climbing stage that ended with Alpe d'Huez, Armstrong feigned a bad day. At the base of Alpe d'Huez, he stormed forward, paused to glance back at Jan Ullrich (the now-famous Look), then soloed away to grab the stage win and gain time—one of the all-time great strategic ploys.

The Escape
During Stage 9 in 2003, Armstrong was embroiled in a risky downhill chase when Joseba Beloki crashed inches in front of him. Armstrong cut off the road into a field, surfed downhill over the bumpy surface, deftly dismounted and jumped a ditch, then smoothly remounted onto the course just as the rest of the group rolled through. Beloki, who broke his femur and other bones, was out of the race, and his career never reached the same level. Armstrong's agility and athleticism saved his Tour—and perhaps his career, too.

The Recovery
After chasing down rival contender Iban Mayo on the final climb of a critical mountain stage in 2003, when his rivals had sensed weakness and begun attacking him in turns like never before, Armstrong crashed when his handlebar caught on a spectator's bag. After remounting his bike, which had a cracked chainstay, he accidentally unclipped from his right pedal and nearly went down again. Though he appeared furious at his luck, Armstrong was focused rather than panicked, and this uncanny poise preserved his win.

Are you serious, is that the best you could come up with for evidence of a clean Lance?
The bluff, is still evident of his doping. Had he not doped it is unlikely he would have ever had the ability to dominate the sport as he did and thus succeed in his rouse.
The escape, was evidence of skill on the bike mixed with a big dose of luck. He was lucky he did not hit a hidden rabbit hole, lucky it happened on that bend etc. I am sure half the peloton at the time could have held that bike upright in the same situation and the same luck he had.
The recovery, how many times have we seen riders crash in the tour at higher speeds and get back on to finish the stage? You seem to disregard the fact that being on a major climb the speed was low and therefore the severity of the crash was less.
Very poor examples of Lance's validity as a world class cyclist, but I guess you don't have too much to work with that is not tainted by doping.

Lance is a cheater. Please stop glorifying the cheater.
Lance and company stole the dreams of cyclists who are honest and wouldn't cheat. It often meant leaving the sport, which many talented and honest riders did, or racing at a lower level and making very little money despite the same sacrifices, or sticking to a cleaner part of the sport like mountain biking.
The honest cyclists train just as hard as the cheaters, and some likely also have the "tactical savvy, skill, and other elusive qualities only the greatest of champions possess" they just don't have that extra "Euro gear" that cheaters like Lance and company made necessary to compete.
Oh, and honest cyclists are completely ignored by Bicycling.com while cheaters are glorified.

Amen, bigmountainsmallman! So many people guilty of hero-worship of LA. I feel for those guys who gave up competitive cycling because they couldn't keep up with the guys on juice and/or suffered what is known as passive PED sickness whereby they had to overexert their bodies, which caused damage, in the attempt to be competitive. Shame on LIEstrong Armstrong!
Truth will set you free, LA. Give it up!